My Upcoming Korea Trip Itinerary (23 Dec – 2 Jan)

After 2 years, I will be travelling to Korea again during winter time (excluding my short trip to Seoul and Busan during summer in mid 2016). It’s almost like a déjà vu; I will arrive in Seoul again on Christmas eve and will be spending my Christmas in Seoul for the second time. Will I have a heartbreaking Christmas like I had experienced in 2015 or will I have a different story to tell this time?

What’s different this time is that I will also be spending the new year day in Seoul and it’s confirmed that I will be meeting Taenggu – at her Christmas concert on Christmas eve right after I arrive in Seoul on the 24th. Not a personal, private face-to-face meeting, but at least I will get to see her this time even if it will be at a distance away.

And compared to 2 years ago, I’m now taking a more active role in planning our itinerary for me and my 3 other friends (2 girls, 1 guy) whom I will be travelling together with. I was the one who planned the general outline of our itinerary first, which was then modified a little after discussions with my friends. Initially I was quite adamant that I won’t be able to make it to Taenggu’s concerts at all because my friends had originally wanted to fly to Jeju directly right after we arrive in Seoul on 24th. However, fate had made it such that due to problems with getting cheaper air tickets to Jeju, we changed our original plan – we are going to stay in Seoul first and travel to Jeju only after the Christmas season. With this glimpse of hope, I bought a ticket to her concert without hesitation, even though I had to get it from the resale market at a much higher price.

And because I’m the main planner of our itinerary, I try to add in some elements of my own personal interest for this trip with the intention of trying to increase the possibilities of meeting Taenggu even in midst of uncertainty. For example, besides grabbing the chance to watch her concert at the last minute even though the schedule is kinda rush, I suggested to visit Jeonju (Taenggu’s hometown) for a 2D2N trip and a 1-day trip to Paju where I had fond memories of back in 2015. I also designated the 1st of January as our solo free & easy day where each of us get to split ourselves away from the group to travel alone or in pairs and spend some time privately on our own (also because 2 of the people in my group are a couple so they need some private time too lol 😆). On this day, I plan to visit The Queen cafe opened by Sooyoung’s mother. I may also go cafe-hopping around other different areas in Seoul or shopping at COEX Mall (I missed the bookshop there where I visited 2 years ago) so I will have to come up with my own itinerary just for that day later on too before the trip. Hopefully I can spend my first day of 2018 privately with Taenggu by travelling on my own. 😌

Unfortunately though, on 29th Dec, which is our 35th monthsary, we will have to spend the whole day travelling on the go between 3 different places. That morning, we will be flying from Jeju back to Seoul, then later that afternoon, we will take a 2-hour KTX train to Jeonju. By the time we reach Jeonju, it will already be around 6.30pm in the evening. Hopefully that night, we will have something nice and memorable for dinner in Taenggu’s hometown as a special way to celebrate our monthsary together. 💜

This itinerary isn’t final yet. The specific places where we will be visiting in Seoul, Jeju, Paju and Jeonju are not decided, although we do have a list of possible attractions to visit listed there. And the Hanok which we will be staying in Jeonju may be changed too as we only found out that the guesthouse does not provide WIFI after we had made the booking. I will update the above link with the latest version of our itinerary once it is finalised at a later date before we fly.

Can’t believe I will be flying off to Seoul next Saturday already! My friends and I have already been planning for this trip since March this year. I pray for a really wonderful good time in Korea this time, I pray for a warmer winter and a chance to see snow, I pray for good health in mind, body and spirit, I pray for a safe and fruitful trip and that I will bring back with me loads of memories and new inspirations to last for the new year of 2018. 🙏 See you at your concert, Taenggu! 😘